Another Cane transferring as portal closes at midnight. Will UM’s Jacurri Brown stay?
Seems like the transfer portal just opened for business.
But at midnight Tuesday, the NCAA’s 30-day window that began Dec. 4 will close until April 15 — unless you’re a graduate transfer.
The University of Miami has 12 players in the portal, including the newest one to enter on Tuesday, per 247Sports: cornerback Davonte Brown. The soon-to-be fifth-year senior had transferred to UM this season to be near his younger brother Damari, a freshman cornerback. Davonte played in 11 games, and Damari played in nine games, the last four of which he started.
Davonte, like his brother a Plantation American Heritage alum, finished this season with 10 tackles, a pass breakup and quarterback hurry.
But the most intriguing UM player to monitor is sophomore quarterback Jacurri Brown, who played his only game of 2023 last Thursday in the Pinstripe Bowl. Brown will be classified as a redshirt sophomore in 2024 and has three remaining years of eligibility.
On Tuesday evening, David Lake of 247Sports reported, citing sources, that Brown will return to UM for the 2024 season.
The Canes, who are actively searching for at least one quarterback from the transfer portal, have only one healthy signal caller on their current roster: Brown.
Last year, the Canes began spring practice March 4 and had their spring game April 14. So, if Brown stays put through midnight, he will be around to compete in spring practice. The portal will open again from April 15 to April 30. Keep in mind that after the midnight Tuesday deadline, schools have two business days, which would be Thursday, to enter the player’s name into the portal database.
Emory Williams, who just finished his first season, is still rehabbing from a compound fracture of his left arm, sustained last month at Florida State, and it’s not known if he’ll be ready for spring practice.
Judd Anderson, who signed his letter of intent on Dec. 20, is healthy but will be fresh out of high school next month as an early enrollee.
Players competing in the College Football Playoff have an addition five-day transfer window following their games.
Graduate students that have remaining eligibility and are transferring for the first time are exempt from transfer windows. “They may enter the portal at any time during the academic year, subject only to deadlines of May 1 for fall and winter sports,’’ per the NCAA.
UM’s 12 players who entered the portal:
The others: On offense: Quarterback Tyler Van Dyke; receivers Brashard Smith, Colbie Young and Frank Ladson; tight end Jaleel Skinner; and running back Don Chaney Jr.
On defense: Defensive end Collins Acheampong, Cyrus Moss, Jahfari Harvey and Chantz Williams; and linebacker Corey Flagg.
Classes begin Tuesday, Jan. 16, so most players will be enrolled by then, though there’s always a few days leeway for new players to register and still be eligible to compete.
Taulia Tagovailoa
Reports surfaced last month that former Maryland quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa, the younger brother of Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, might try to get an NCAA waiver to be eligible for a sixth year in an attempt to transfer to Miami and be near Tua.
But it is believed that obtaining a waiver for Tagovailoa, if he, indeed, applied, would be an extremely difficult prospect.
Tagovailoa, who holds the Big Ten passing yards record with 11,356 yards, opted out of the Terrapins’ Dec. 30 Music City Bowl. But he already exhausted his five-year NCAA eligibility window by playing five games as a backup to Tua and Mac Jones at Alabama in 2019, then transferring to Maryland for the next four seasons. He played only four games in 2020 for a redshirt season, then played 13 games in 2021 and 12 games apiece in 2022 and 2023.
InsideMDSports of the 247Sports network detailed Maryland coach Mike Locksley’s radio conversation with “The Vinny & Haynie Show” on 105.7 The Fan, and reported through sources “in Miami and Maryland” that Taulia’s “family would like to bring him to the city where his brother, Tua Tagovailoa, is a star.
Taulia has until the Jan. 15 deadline to declare for the NFL Draft, and he’s not a lock to get drafted. Locksley spoke about the conversation he had with Taulia when the quarterback told him he was going to opt out of the bowl.
“The conversation was simple, man. I have learned, and I say this: I’ve gotten rid of the attachment issues that as a coach you tend to have and know that they’re going to come and go now...
“So, when he came to sit down and he made the decision that he didn’t want to play in the bowl game in an effort to pursue future opportunities, whether it be the NFL, whether it be transferring — if in fact there were more time available — it was a pretty easy conversation because the mutual respect was there.
“He’s done enough and has done what we needed him to do for our program, and we’re very thankful. But at the same time, we’ve also given him a huge platform to showcase the abilities that we all have come to love.”
